Rockstar Games announces plans to release Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City for PC and PS3 on March 30, calling the release "much anticipated," which is apparently newspeak for "way overdue." On that date they will also release the two DLC packs from the bundle, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, via digital distribution. Word is:

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players explore Liberty City’s high-end nightlife as Luis Lopez, struggling to balance the temptations of money and vice against loyalties to family and friends. The Lost and Damned is a dark trip through Liberty City’s seedy underbelly as outlaw biker, Johnny Klebitz, fights to keep his gang together as a rift in the gang’s leadership threatens to tear the brotherhood apart. Both episodes feature a slew of new vehicles and weapons, and each episode adds new activities including cage fighting, gang wars and BASE jumping.

Nameless wrote on Jan 29, 2010, 14:18:So because this is the last GTAIV thread for a while, I figure I'd share with you what happened to me as I was playing the other day. You can't plan this shit...oh, and spoilers ahead in case you haven't played yet. Stop reading now.

I start doing the "I'll Take Her" mission (I'm playing on the PC version), where you kidnap the granddaughter of the Anceloti's family. You know the mission where you drive the convertible pink roadster? So I start the mission, pick her up, start driving to South end of town and the game informs me to start the kidnapping. So I quickly pause to take a look at the map to see where I have to go. Well the GPS wants to take me right back through mobster country, and since I was right near the on ramp to the freeway that loops around the bottom of the island, I decided to take her by freeway. Plus the safe house is right next to it up at the top.

So I head over to the onramp, and it's near the bottom that Nico informs her that she's being kidnapped. I speed up the ramp afraid she's going to ditch out of the car (you know how passengers will after you carjack a car?) They banter back and forth as I crest the hill and punch it. I'm heading to towards the first bend in the freeway and she says "Oh yeah! Well I'll scratch your eyes out!!" and jerks the wheel to the left. This was timed perfectly with a break in the jersey wall...I careen across two lanes of traffic and punch right through the barrier. I'm now in mid-air, flying off the freeway towards these huge storage tanks, everything is in slow motion, and Nico says "Whhhhyyy donnn't yooouu scraaatch myyy baaaaalllllssss..."

This is one of those gaming moments that's gonna stay with me forever.

Nameless wrote on Jan 29, 2010, 14:18:So because this is the last GTAIV thread for a while, I figure I'd share with you what happened to me as I was playing the other day. You can't plan this shit...oh, and spoilers ahead in case you haven't played yet. Stop reading now.

I start doing the "I'll Take Her" mission (I'm playing on the PC version), where you kidnap the granddaughter of the Anceloti's family. You know the mission where you drive the convertible pink roadster? So I start the mission, pick her up, start driving to South end of town and the game informs me to start the kidnapping. So I quickly pause to take a look at the map to see where I have to go. Well the GPS wants to take me right back through mobster country, and since I was right near the on ramp to the freeway that loops around the bottom of the island, I decided to take her by freeway. Plus the safe house is right next to it up at the top.

So I head over to the onramp, and it's near the bottom that Nico informs her that she's being kidnapped. I speed up the ramp afraid she's going to ditch out of the car (you know how passengers will after you carjack a car?) They banter back and forth as I crest the hill and punch it. I'm heading to towards the first bend in the freeway and she says "Oh yeah! Well I'll scratch your eyes out!!" and jerks the wheel to the left. This was timed perfectly with a break in the jersey wall...I careen across two lanes of traffic and punch right through the barrier. I'm now in mid-air, flying off the freeway towards these huge storage tanks, everything is in slow motion, and Nico says "Whhhhyyy donnn't yooouu scraaatch myyy baaaaalllllssss..."

This is one of those gaming moments that's gonna stay with me forever.

GTA4 multiplayer is pretty fun if you can find a game with decent settings. Unfortunately most idiots use all blips because they are pussies who can't play without knowing where all the enemies are. But Team Mafiya Work mode with team blips is a blast. It can get really intense.

So because this is the last GTAIV thread for a while, I figure I'd share with you what happened to me as I was playing the other day. You can't plan this shit...oh, and spoilers ahead in case you haven't played yet. Stop reading now.

I start doing the "I'll Take Her" mission (I'm playing on the PC version), where you kidnap the granddaughter of the Anceloti's family. You know the mission where you drive the convertible pink roadster? So I start the mission, pick her up, start driving to South end of town and the game informs me to start the kidnapping. So I quickly pause to take a look at the map to see where I have to go. Well the GPS wants to take me right back through mobster country, and since I was right near the on ramp to the freeway that loops around the bottom of the island, I decided to take her by freeway. Plus the safe house is right next to it up at the top.

So I head over to the onramp, and it's near the bottom that Nico informs her that she's being kidnapped. I speed up the ramp afraid she's going to ditch out of the car (you know how passengers will after you carjack a car?) They banter back and forth as I crest the hill and punch it. I'm heading to towards the first bend in the freeway and she says "Oh yeah! Well I'll scratch your eyes out!!" and jerks the wheel to the left. This was timed perfectly with a break in the jersey wall...I careen across two lanes of traffic and punch right through the barrier. I'm now in mid-air, flying off the freeway towards these huge storage tanks, everything is in slow motion, and Nico says "Whhhhyyy donnn't yooouu scraaatch myyy baaaaalllllssss..."

This is one of those gaming moments that's gonna stay with me forever.

Still waiting to upgrade my computer to run this game. Which is sad considering I've been able to run everything else at decent resolutions and settings. GTAIV there is just too many slow downs in various areas, particularly when driving, while other areas will be fine.

Even on my system the performance leaves something to be desired, which is disappointing considering the graphics aren't anything special.

Anyway, this is so little so late it's completely pointless. I still haven't even got round to completing the main game, largely because it was released in a disaster of a state.

Still waiting to upgrade my computer to run this game. Which is sad considering I've been able to run everything else at decent resolutions and settings. GTAIV there is just too many slow downs in various areas, particularly when driving, while other areas will be fine.

The PC version still runs & looks better than the PS3 version did, but just not smooth and consistent enough for me.

By the time I upgrade my computer maybe I can get the DLC at a discounted rate.

Nameless wrote on Jan 29, 2010, 10:54:^^Aero: If you check the Sales comments between 12/23-1/3, when the Steam sale was going on, you'll find a link on how to disable the Rockstar Social club and GFWL BS that comes with GTA IV.

Link please?

Xliveless -- it's a DLL you just extract into the GTA4 folder which overrides the GFWL and Social Club support.

If you already have saved games in an gfwl online profile, you'll need to move the files to the new savefile location too.

EDIT: Oh, but it disables online play (I think LAN still works). You need to use GFWL and Social Club if you want that.

Aero wrote on Jan 29, 2010, 10:49:It would be nice if they would upgrade the underlying engine a bit. It was improved somewhat with patching, but the performance is still to low given the quality of the graphics. It also just kind of has an overall clunky feeling that's hard to put my finger on, but pretty common in console ports

I find this an unfair accusation to be honest, their engine is a technical marvel when it comes to anything but performance. I agree it needs refinement but they put a ridiculous amount of detail and NPCs into a very large area with a much smaller amount of LOD than most modern engines.

Nameless wrote on Jan 29, 2010, 10:54:^^Aero: If you check the Sales comments between 12/23-1/3, when the Steam sale was going on, you'll find a link on how to disable the Rockstar Social club and GFWL BS that comes with GTA IV.

As all GTA's, this one is fun to come back to if you stopped playing for a year. I have to agree that I wasnt a fan of the Lost and the Damned add on, but thats just me. I decided not to buy anymore of those little add-ons after that. Oh, I have it on 360 as well, so uhh yeah none of this really applies to this topic. =P

I actually just finished Lost and Damned on 360 and have started Ballad of Gay Tony. Lost and Damned was really cool. The ways they tie into the events of the first game, and even the other DLC are pretty slick.